In 1986, millions of Filipinos stood on EDSA to end the rule of the powerful few. They did not risk their lives so that power would simply rotate within the same surnames.

The 1987 Constitution made that clear. Article II, Section 26 commands the State to guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and to prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law. This was not symbolic language. It was part of the unfinished work of EDSA itself: dismantling entrenched monopolies on political power and restoring genuine democratic competition.

Nearly forty years later, that constitutional mandate remains unfulfilled. Congress has never enacted an enabling anti-political dynasty law. Instead, dynasties expanded, consolidated, and normalized.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reported that roughly eight out of ten district representatives belong to political families. By 2025, at least eighteen “obese dynasties” simultaneously occupied multiple elective posts, with some families holding five to nineteen seats in a single election cycle. This was not a coincidence. It was consolidation by design.

Many dynasties strengthened during the Martial Law era, when centralized authority allowed select families to entrench themselves locally and nationally. EDSA was supposed to break that pattern. The Constitution embedded safeguards to prevent rule by the few from re-emerging under democratic packaging. Yet today, dynastic dominance has become routine.

Even more troubling is the widening gap between rhetoric and reality.

Key political leaders repeatedly declared support for anti-dynasty legislation. House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III stated, “We are serious about passing a fair, just, and implementable Anti-Political Dynasty Law in the 20th Congress.” A total of 24 anti-political dynasty bills were filed in the House, including House Bill No. 6771 authored by Dy and House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, all seeking to define prohibited family relationships and set limits on the holding of elective public office.

Malacañang likewise expressed support. Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said during a recent press briefing: “Maganda pong senyales iyan kung kanila po itong minamadali (ang discussion sa Anti-Dynasty Bill) dahil iyan din po ang nais ng Pangulo.”

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. even included anti-dynasty legislation among priority measures in the recently concluded Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting, with the Palace categorically stating that the president is open to certifying the said bill as urgent. 

Senators, congressmen, and other political actors positioned themselves publicly as reform advocates. Yet many of these same figures belong to entrenched political families.

Speaker Dy comes from a long-established political clan in Isabela. The President’s own family occupies multiple elective positions across generations. Even in the Senate, a dynast leads the chamber. Senate President Tito Sotto III sits at the helm, while members of his own family hold elective posts, including Quezon City Vice Mayor Gian Sotto, and his nephew, Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, who continues to win successive terms in local government. 

Across national and local politics, siblings sit side by side, relatives replace relatives, and political surnames rotate while power remains within the same households.

This contradiction cannot be ignored.

If leaders are serious about dismantling dynasties, they must begin with their own families. Public pronouncements without personal accountability reduce reform into political theater. Statements of support are easy. Filing bills is easy. Passing responsibility to future Congresses is easy. Ending one’s own dynastic advantage is not.

This petition demands a simple and public test of sincerity: if you belong to a political dynasty and claim to support anti-political dynasty reform, sign a binding pledge declaring that the dynasty ends with you. Not after the law passes. Not when politically convenient. Now.

Because the spirit of EDSA was never limited to removing one ruler. It was about ending the reign of the few and ensuring that no family could monopolize public office at the expense of equal opportunity.

In this light, we, members of civil society, inheritors of the People Power legacy, professionals, youth, students, workers, and ordinary Filipinos, call on all dynastic politicians to sign the following:

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The “Last in the Family” Pledge

“I affirm Article II, Section 26 of the 1987 Constitution, which requires the State to guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and to prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law. I pledge to actively support, vote for, and campaign for the immediate passage of a meaningful Anti-Political Dynasty Law.

In the spirit of genuine public service and faithful to the democratic legacy of the EDSA People Power Revolution, I pledge to dismantle dynastic rule, beginning with my own family. I will be the last member of my family to hold elective office.

Even if no enabling law is enacted in time, I solemnly commit that no member of my family, within the degree covered by pending anti-dynasty proposals, will run in the upcoming barangay elections, nor in the 2028 national elections and beyond.

I make this commitment as a matter of constitutional duty, democratic fairness, and accountability to the Filipino people.”

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This is not about revenge. It is about renewal. This is not anti-family. It is pro-democracy.

To continue the spirit of EDSA is to demand accountability where it matters most. Politicians who claim to support anti-dynasty reform must walk their talk. Their undertaking must be binding, public, and consequential. It must deter the recycling of power through relatives in future elections.

Sign this petition. Share it widely. Demand the pledge.

If they truly believe dynasties weaken democracy, they should have nothing to fear. And if they refuse to sign, that refusal will speak louder than any speech they deliver.

End political dynasties now!